Charles Ellicott Commentary James 2:26

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead." — James 2:26 (ASV)

As the body without the spirit . . .—A closing simile of much force, As the body without the spirit, so faith without works. But the term “without” is hardly strong enough to represent the Greek “apart from.” Of our own human wisdom, we had been rather inclined to say that works were most like the body, and faith most like the breath or its animation. “The Apostle’s view,” says Alford, “seems to be this: Faith is the body, the sum and substance of the Christian life; works (meaning obedience) the moving and quickening of that body, just as the spirit is the moving and quickening principle of the natural body. So that ‘as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.’”